The present invention relates to bag handling apparatus and, more particularly, to apparatus for separating individual bags from a web, opening an end of the separated bag for receiving an article in the bag, carrying the opened bag past an article inserting station, and sealing the opened end of the bag.
Bags, particularly of the padded or cushioned type have found wide acceptance for packaging and shipping articles. One reason for this acceptance is that bags may be readily made from relatively inexpensive flexible sheet material such as paper, plastic, or cloth. Another important reason is that bags readily adapt to accommodate a variety of differently sized and shaped articles.
One type of shipping bag or envelope which has enjoyed success is disclosed in copending U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 419,923 filed Nov. 29, 1973, now abandoned, in the names of Bambara and Knaus, and assigned to the present assignee. The bag disclosed in this application is an improved cushioned shipping bag of a type used for mailing or shipping articles such as books or machine parts which may be damaged if not protected by the cushion or padding of the bag. The improved cushioned shipping bag has a continuous layer of foamed plastic sheet material firmly secured to a continuous layer of relatively thin paper or other material forming an outer surface of the finished, laminated bag.
An improvement on the foregoing shipping bag is disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 473,060 filed May 23, 1974, now abandoned, in the names of Bambara and Strzelewicz, and also assigned to the present assignee. The bag disclosed in this application is a cushioned shipping bag formed from a continuous layer of foamed plastic sheet material firmly secured to a continuous layer of a relatively thin paper or other material forming an outer surface of the finished, laminated bag. In forming this bag, the laminated bag material is folded at one edge in such a way as to form a cushioned flap at an opposite edge which is not closed or sealed to permit articles to be put in the bag. The flap may be later folded onto the bag and secured to the bag by, for example, pressure sensitive adhesive placed in a strip along the unclosed edge of the bag.
There are, of course, many other types of bags, both padded and unpadded and of a variety of materials, employed for packaging. While bags have many salutary features, they suffer from the major drawback of being relatively difficult to fill and seal, especially when the articles to be bagged are of non-uniform shape and size. Generally, the filling and sealing are done by hand, the bagger taking a bag from a stack, inserting a hand into the unsealed end to spread the sides, inserting the articles, and then sealing the open end. In mass shipping operations, such as book clubs where thousands of articles are shipped in bags on a periodic basis, these manual operations become particularly slow and expensive.